I am honored to have received the nomination for president of the New York State Assessors Association. In 2006, I became the sole appointed assessor for the Town & Village of Green Island. I immediately became involved in the Albany-Schenectady County Assessor's Association serving in various leadership roles and simultaneously joined the New York State Assessors Association. I was immediately vested in the comradery and impressed by the knowledge and experience the members had to offer. I joined the Executive Board with the intention of making a difference. I’ve chaired the Memorial, Membership, Mentoring, Ethics, and Employee committees, but I have spent most of my time leading the Legislative Committee. The Legislative Committee has faced challenges and adversity, but we’ve also paved a path for success. The committee is growing and changing with each legislative session and is gaining the respect of state officials on real property tax issues. I am looking forward to what the next year brings.
I previously held the position of senior policy analysist for the chair of the Albany County Legislature, and served as staff to the Albany County Board of Ethics. From 2018 to 2020, I had the pleasure of serving as the director of the Albany County Real Property Tax Service Agency. In addition to my role as assessor, I am the director of parks & recreation and a NYS certified building & code enforcement officer for the Village of Green Island. I currently serve as the executive assistant to the mayor and oversee the daily operations of all village departments. I serve as the director of the Green Island Food Pantry and Adopt-A-Family program and as president of the Green Island Senior Citizens, Inc. In my spare time I enjoy coaching and watching high school basketball.
I intend to use my experience in local and county government to advance the assessing profession. I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve on the NYSAA Executive Board. I will serve the Association and its members to the best of my ability and thank each one of you for your support.
Rob is the Assessor for the Town of Clay, an Architect and the President of the Bear Springs Corporation, a firm specializing in Adirondack Style Design and Commercial Project Planning. He is the past President of the Onondaga County Assessors Association and past President of the Board of Trustees of the Northern Onondaga County Public Library system. He is a member of the Town of Cicero Zoning Board, a Trustee for the Erie Canal Museum, is a certified “Disaster Relief Building Evaluator” for the State of California, has graduate certificates in Commercial Real Estate Finance and Commercial Real Estate Development from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a professional certificate in Municipal Finance from the University of Chicago.
He spends his down time working on his properties, writing grants for non-profits (and writing in general), climbing mountains, playing in the snow (If or when it snows), and trying to live a peaceful life.
As a board member, his main goal is to raise the level of respect given to those in the assessment profession. Remember, elected officials make one decision a year that influences a taxpayers pocketbook (the budget), while every decision an assessor makes either “giveth” or “taketh” away.
After a few years working for various mass appraisal companies in the late 80’s and early 90’s I followed the lead of some friends and worked towards becoming a certified candidate for assessor. Most days I look back on that decision and think it was a great idea. Some days it feels like I lost a bet. Such is life. Either way the work paid off and I began looking for the opportunity to become the sole appointed assessor.
I accepted my first appointment on July 1, 1999, for the Town of Williamstown in Oswego County. I have been the assessor there every day since. I am currently the sole assessor for seven municipalities in Oswego and Wayne counties.
I became a member of the IAO in 2004. I have a professional assessor designation. I am currently a certified general appraiser in New York State. I have served as Vice President and President of the Oswego County Assessor Association. I am fortunate to say this is my second time serving on the executive board of the NYSAA. I am looking forward to the opportunity to serve our membership as Second Vice President.
My name is Lisa R. Goree, and I am the Sole Assessor for the Town of Southampton. I would like to thank everyone that voted for me in the 2021 election. I am now seeking my 2nd term to serve on the NYSAA Executive Board. It’s been an honor for the last two years to work with such a great group of dedicated individuals. I currently serve on both the Ethics and Membership Committees as well as Chairperson for the Constitution and Bylaws Committee.
I’ve worked in the Town of Southampton Assessor’s Office for over 22 years, having first started as an Assessment Clerk. Since then, I’ve held several titles, including Deputy Assessor for 4 years and later appointed Sole Assessor in 2013. With a staff of only 10, including myself, I am charged with overseeing the valuation of over 50,000 parcels that include over 37,000 residential properties, and an average of 1,500 annual sales. Approximately 7% of our single-family residences are considered “Exceptional Homes,” however, they make up 44% of our residential assessed value.
Together, with my husband Kristin of 37 years we have raised 3 beautiful daughters who have blessed us with 6 wonderful grandchildren. We live on the Shinnecock Reservation, the oldest self-governing Native American tribe in NY State. We welcomed the first settlers to our shores in 1640 to what is now known as Southampton Village. I am the first Native American to hold a department head position in the Town and like my ancestors, in some way, I consider myself “a keeper of the land.”
During my time with the Town, I was involved with the 2004 town-wide reassessment where I oversaw the data collection and data conversion process from Boeckh to Marshall & Swift. In 2011 we implemented the online grievance submission process by providing an electronic fillable PDF application on our website which is then emailed directly to our MS Outlook grievance inbox. Applications are assigned a parcel ID associated with their tax map number and subsequently uploaded to their individual files located in our database. This process allows the Town to email 95% of the BAR notices, which has saved the Town thousands of dollars annually in time, staff and printing.
If re-elected, I look forward to participating in the continued work of the NYSAA Executive Board.
Beginning my public career as a real property appraiser allowed me to learn from the ground up. Getting to know the nuts and bolts of assessing, exposure to local politics with cover from above, and honing my diplomacy skills prepared me for the new challenge of deputy assessor for the largest town in Westchester. This position elevated me to a more responsible roll assisting unhappy taxpayers, developers, attorneys and, of course, SCAR hearings. It also provided me with the opportunity to manage a busy office of 10 professional and clerical staff, without the full consequences of being the boss. I am very fortunate to have had two outstanding bosses who took their time to teach me and allowed me to learn and grow from observation as well as trial and error. All this prepared me for my current position, which I have held since 2015.
I hope to use the experience gained over the past 27 years in both private and public employment to continue to move our Association forward to benefit the taxpayers of our great state as well as those I serve locally. I believe strongly in education for our membership as well as educating the citizens we serve as to what we do and why. An informed public is a happier public when it comes to taxation, and assists in building public trust, which is paramount in our profession. I hope to bring my ability to forge strong working relationships to this Board to add to its future successes.
I began my career as a Clerk in 2002 in the Town of Cheektowaga Assessors Office and worked there for 21 years. When I first started, I knew nothing about real property or the taxation system that governed it. Surprisingly enough, I could not learn enough, I absolutely loved working with the residents and helping them navigate this very complicated system. I loved that every day I learned something new, and the job never got boring.
In 2012, I received a scholarship from the John Way-John Costello Memorial Education Fund to attend the Cornell Seminar on Appraising. This was the first time I had ever attended this seminar and it was a game changer for me. It got me excited about learning in a classroom setting again and about something other than the clerical aspect of my job.
In 2013, with both my children out of high school and on their separate paths, I made the decision to return to college and pursue my degree. While still in school, I was promoted to the Assistant Assessor position in my office after a change in staffing. In 2016, I completed my studies, graduated Magna Cum Laude and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. I had no idea where this path would take me or what I planned to do with this education. I loved my job, the Assessor who I worked for, my co-workers and the residents that I was working with…I was completely content.
Quite unexpectedly, the Assessor made the decision to leave before the end of her term. I was approached by the Town Supervisor and asked if I would finish out the remainder of the term. I quickly learned that this was my destiny and where my path was leading me…I achieved my dream even before I realized it was my dream. On February 15, 2017, I was appointed to the position of Assessor.
I knew that needed to become part of the Assessment Community so that I could gain the support of others who work and have experience in this field. My first move was to join the New York State Assessors Association because I had attended many of their educational courses and quickly realized that the caliber of people I was exposed to and their level of expertise was second to none. I quickly found that the networking and knowledge that I gain from the diverse group of people that attend NYSAA events is invaluable and has become the greatest support system I can rely on. Very few people outside this community truly understand the job of the Assessor and how uniquely difficult it is…from dealing with elected officials, attorneys, media, residents, all while managing an office staff and maintaining peace within the community.
Having worked my way through the ranks in a Town that had a wide range of parcels and circumstances, I have knowledge and experiences of both routine and unique situations that I can share with this community. Some of the experiences that I consider most valuable are converting my office to a paperless environment and implementing a system that allowed for cross training of staff in all areas of assessment and exemption administration.
On June 5, 2023, I was offered and accepted the Assessor position in the Towns of Tonawanda and Grand Island. I am now working under a shared service agreement which is new to me and allows me further knowledge and experience.
I believe that the length of time, working through the ranks and my experience make me a good candidate to serve on the Executive Board of the New York State Assessors Association. I would consider it an honor to serve on this Board that I have so much respect for and that has provided so much support to me throughout my career. I would welcome the opportunity to share what I have learned and know with others in this community, the same way in which others provided support to me.
My first jobs l've worked at were on local family-owned dairy farms. I started when I was about twelve years old tossing hay bales and shoveling gutters. With five other brothers in my household anything I made helped alleviate the burden with school clothes and other necessities. After high school I worked in several fields such as direct care with the mentally and physically disabled, a substitute teacher, the Sheriff's Department as a county correctional officer and as a finishing operator at the local Coming Glass Plant. For some strange reason I decided to get my appraisal license and found myself shortly after working as a data collector. Many would say it all went downhill from there, but God has chosen this path for me for reasons beyond my understanding. The importance of a flexible work schedule raising two kids was far more enticing than shift work.
Anything that l've done l've always done to the best of my ability. Once I got into assessing it was no different. Centering my career around education is just fundamental to me. One thing l've found out is no matter what, you can never stop learning. As soon as I had the minimum requirement of experience, I immediately obtained my lAO designation.
Working in several different towns is not the only thing I do. During my spare time I do residential appraisals and continue to help people buy and sell property with my broker's license. Recently I retook my Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) class with my daughter. Some 23 years ago I had obtained this certification and was, at that time, with a local volunteer rescue squad and fire department. I was just recently accepted into our small local fire department after moving to the suburb of Canton, called Pyrites.
Activities I enjoy, when not working, are any outdoor sportsman activities such as hunting, four wheeling, snowmobiling, and fishing. I'm a member of our local Wesleyan Church and love volunteering every summer for our vacation bible school and monthly for our children's church. During Christmas you never know if I will be dressed as Santa, Buddy the Elf or my favorite costume of the Grinch! Some people may be surprised that I love line dancing, singing and country-western attire!
Why would I make a good executive board member? I have previous experience serving on the Executive Board for the NYSAA. My characteristics, as mentioned above, of being a hard worker, motivated and priding myself on education. My willingness to help others when they call upon me for guidance. There are so many aspects of the real property tax law that I think need amending or at least starting a conversation of how we can make the system more efficient and effective for the taxpayers and others. There's no guessing where I stand and l'm not a pretender. I hold myself to a high standard, but I also expect the same from others. We should always try to do better today than yesterday. Not only a good work motto, but it goes good for how we live our life as well.
Thank you to the nominating committee of the NYSAA for the opportunity to have my name on the 2023 ballot. Thank you to all members who have taken the time to read my bio and not only getting to know me as a candidate, but as a person. I look forward to seeing you all at Cornell 2023 and in Saratoga for our annual fall conference!!
God Bless,
James P. Snyder, IAO (Cowboy)
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